Many companies provide web-based resources that allow their buyers to place orders for products offered by the company. After receiving an order for a product, the company may then provide a promise to the buyer regarding the delivery date of the ordered product. Order promising typically involves two steps. The first step involves selecting a product and desired product options using an electronic “shopping cart” or other e-commerce tool on the Internet and sending the order to an internal order management system associated with the company. The second step involves the company determining where the ordered product exists in inventory and coordinating the delivery of the product to the buyer. The buyer is often given a promise date for delivery either immediately after placing the order or after the seller locates the product in inventory. If the promise is made immediately after receiving the order, the promised delivery date is typically based on the assumption that the item is in inventory and the assumption of a fixed lead-time for delivery to the buyer. Both of these assumptions are significant and thus the promised delivery date is not reliable. If the promise date is given after the seller has located the item in inventory, the promise date is more reliable; however, the date is not given to the buyer in real-time.
There are several disadvantages with the typical order promising methods described above. For example, the buyer is unable to ensure that the configured order is “legal” (a valid order including valid product specifications or options). In addition, the buyer is unable to check, in real-time, the availability of the ordered product in the seller's inventory or the production status of the ordered product. Furthermore, the seller is unable to provide the buyer with a reliable, real-time promise date. Due to these disadvantages, buyers may be dissatisfied with the product ordering process and not return to a particular seller.